SB I Dreamed a Dream

Steve Barton 6/26/54 - 7/21/01

Old Sketch

2003

Elizabeth's Wednesday

As simple as it is, Elizabeth's blog entry (http://osmosismo.blogspot.com/) made me smile last night. I think it's because she'll be put in a similar boat with me soon.

Life is a Caber-N-train

My morning commute to NYU/8th Street.

Storyboard and Product

A few pre-production sketches/storyboards I did for Cast Party. Images matched with the screenshot.

Jim Caruso's Cast Party from castpartyvideo on Vimeo.

Old Sketches

I was going through my computer and found some old sketches of mine that I had scanned.

from 2003

Short Script: Cup o' Joe (working title)

Short Script

Linda lived with her mother, Ruth, all her life and has held the same job for nearly thirty years at a waitress at a local diner. Despite her constant companionship with her mother, Linda leads a relatively lonely life. Jack, a boyfriend from years ago is her best friend, but they rarely see each other as it is.

For the past few months, Ruth has been living in an assisted living facility because of her age and her failing health. When she passes away, Linda is left virtually alone. Jack is married with kids as are her two brothers. The recent passing of Ruth stirs something in Jack and he digs into their past to find the son he and Ruth gave up for adoption when they were dating nearly twenty-five years prior. Jack’s paternal instinct is strong and it’s obvious that giving up their son has been on his mind for a long time. Now that he’s attempted to make some contact with the boy, the need to reunite with him is overwhelming. Jack attempts to use Ruth’s passing as a need for Linda to work with him to reunite with their son.

Linda remains adamant that the adoption means that giving up the child means that they don’t have a son. She continues to tell herself this, but the growing realization is that the death of her mother, combined with the lack of friends and family creates a blossoming curiosity about her son.

Chatting with Elizabeth

Left: Elizabeth, Right: Me

web cam photo timestamp: 1:43

Metro North and the World Cup

I feel like this past weekend of late nights and couch surfing was mostly unintentional. I went to a roof party at my former roommate's new place (and if you're wondering, no, we didn't break up). The new place is absolutely awesome, but parties also mean late nights. Of course for me, after a day or work, this made for a 22-hour day. I finally was able to hit the sack (literally - I slept on bean bag chairs) around 5 in the morning.

Some time in the afternoon the next day, I thought it was high time to head home as I had expected to. I rushed to Grand Central to catch a train only to find out that all trains on the New Haven line were temporarily suspended in both directions. I waited it out and watched the Uruguay vs. Germany game in Grand Central. There was a television that was put up in the middle of Grand Central - a small one, but an awesome idea nonetheless. It was good to FINALLY catch a game and root for my study-abroad home, Germany.

I ended up crashing in the city another night on another friend's futon to avoid what was sure to be crowded trains full of travelers desperate to get home. You can read about the excitement of the Metro North New Haven line power outage here (New York Times).

watching URU vs. GER in Grand Central

Photo-Memory: Stairs in the Palais Garnier

Paris, France

October 27, 2008

Prepping to Travel with Friends

Short Script: Clearing Józefów

Approximately 15-20 minute film.

Based off of events described in Christopher Browning's Ordinary Men: Reserve Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland

Synopsis:

In the summer of 1942, nearly 500 hundred middle-aged men from Hamburg were sent to Józefów, Poland with instructions to round up and kill Jews. These men made up Ordnungspolizei Reserve Battalion 101. They killed approximately 1,500 Jews from Józefów in a sixteen hour period. This battalion of drafted men was considered unfit for other military duty and were not given the training and preparation that was a military standard.

Drafted in early 1942, Kurt, a 41-year-old unemployed shopkeeper, was forced to leave behind his wife and son in Hamburg. After months of sickness, his son's health began to improve just prior to Kurt's departure. This was due in part to the dedication of the local apothecarist, who sympathized with Kurt's lack of finances to pay for medicine.

Kurt, like the other drafted men, are hardly blood-thirsty. They long to return back home and are convinced that carrying out the mission to kill Jews will result in a quicker return home. Within a hours of arriving to Józefów, the men get to work gathering Jews from their homes into the streets, loading many into cattle cars, and walking others to the woods to be shot.

German men walk in and out of the woods, practically exchanging spots with each shot of a gun. They stand around a large ditch and their faces are hidden with gun-smoke. Kurt and another officer have brought a young couple to the woods. Kurt's companion kills the wife and walks away immediately, leaving Kurt with the husband. The man is in hysterics until Kurt finally shoots. The smoke clears and Kurt's face is speckled with blood.

The event has traumatized Kurt and he rushes back into town. When asked my fellow companions what's wrong, Kurt quickly brushes them off and says that he's looking. He is desperate to find refuge and wanders into the basement of an abandoned home. He throws his gun down and he goes into a panic, trying desperately to wipe away any lingering blood from his face. He is frantic, crying, sick. He hears a noise. In the basement a woman is curled up tightly in the corner. Kurt quickly stands up, wipes his tears, and grabs his gun. He demands the woman come out of the corner. She does, obediently. It is evident she is a Jew based on the star on her jacket.

Her manner is so strangely calm and Kurt's just the opposite. He tells her to sit. She does. He puts the gun aside and begins talking with her. There's something familiar about her. Conversation reveals that she was pushed out of Hamburg to Poland. Kurt continues to talk with her and slowly he is able to identify her as the apothecarist. In near panic, he rattles off ways to try and get her out, but it's little help when he hears his men.

They congratulate him on finding another Jew. His comrades tell him to bring the woman out to the street where they will all walk together to the woods.

Too Darn Hot

By the way...it was 104°F in NYC yesterday

Photo-Memory: Vienna S-Bahn

Vienna, Austria

October 30, 2008

Polaroid-Memory: Alexanderplatz

Berlin, Germany

September 2008

Flearoy

Flearoy is my friend's amazing band - if you haven't checked them out already, you should. Their album is available to download for free on their myspace page: http://www.myspace.com/flearoy

Photographing Birdland

I film and photograph at Birdland almost every Monday. Here are a few pics from this evening.

As American as America Gets

Happy 4th Photography

Wilton, CT fireworks

4th of July Migraine Weekend

craptastic week of embarassments, work stress, waiting for calls, deciding whether to place calls, trying to book jobs, apologizing for personal and professional work, lack of sleep, severe anxiety, loss of appetite

rounding it out nicely with a migraine

wanting to sleep

should sleep

can't sleep

fireworks tomorrow will hurt my head

maybe

friends help crappy weeks

...so does drinking...

...but not with a migraine

friends writing, movie-watching, chatting

waiting

next week

maybe

hopefully

sleep

maybe

hopefully

should sleep

Artistic Innocence

Thanks my Abbey for snapping this photo at a sale.

"Think about it."